Vermont Fancy
Grade: This syrup is the lightest in color with a mild delicate
flavor. It is usually produced first in the spring when the temperatures are the
coldest.

Vermont Grade A Medium Amber: This is a
great all purpose syrup and is generally the most popular. The flavor is
slightly stronger than Fancy and the color a warm golden hue.

Vermont Grade A Dark Amber: This syrup is
darker than medium amber and has a full-bodied maple flavor. This can be used for cooking
and to sweeten foods naturally. Many enjoy this grade for a stronger maple
flavor on pancakes, waffles, and ice cream.

Vermont Grade B: This is a darker grade
for cooking and natural food flavoring.

Pure Vermont Maple Syrup is a natural on pancakes, waffles,
French toast, or vanilla ice cream. We suggest warming your syrup in the microwave
before pouring to bring out the maple flavor. Use it as a natural sweetener in
coffee and tea or milk shakes. It is delicious on oatmeal, granola
and grapefruit. Maple syrup adds a wonderful flavor in baked
beans, muffins, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and baked apples. Make a fruit syrup
for ice cream by lining a small baking dish with slices of apples,
pears, peaches, or pineapple, covering the slices with maple syrup, and
baking at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

The use of maple syrup is limited only by your
imagination. For a healthier and flavorful alternative, try it in place of white
sugar in recipes. Use 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup for each cup of granulated sugar. Also, when you
use it as a replacement for sugar, decrease the liquid (such as milk or water)
called for in the recipe by 2 or 3 tablespoons. Because maple syrup tends to caramelize and burn on the top sooner than a
batter using granulated sugar, make sure to decrease your oven temperature by 25
degrees.

Maple syrup is produced from the sap collected
from the Sugar Maple tree. Maple sap is clear, watery and contains only 2-4% sugar. The season begins in late February with the
tapping of the sugar maple trees. A hole is drilled into the tree. A spout
is then driven into the hole. A bucket is hung or pipeline (plastic tubing) is
attached to collect the sap. The sap begins to flow when
temperatures begin to rise above freezing during the day but fall below freezing
at night. The sap is collected into gathering tanks and
brought to the sugarhouse to be boiled in the evaporator. The sap will run intermittently over the next 4-6 weeks until
the weather warms and the buds begin to form on the trees, usually early to mid-
April.

Maple trees that produce sap are at least 40
years old. It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one
gallon of Maple Syrup. It will take the annual sap output of four
mature maple trees to produce one gallon of maple syrup.

Vermont remains the largest single producer of
Maple Syrup in the United States.